The Truth About Chocolate
by legalliz
Summary: A metaphoric musing from Ranger's POV. Just because.


_A/N: Sorry, this has nothing to do with the holidays. I was watching Chocolat_ _and felt like writing, so TA DA! Hope you enjoy!_

There was this one time a while back when I stopped over to see my family, and my mom had this artsy movie on. Some dumb chick flick about a lady going from town to town opening a chocolate shop and bewitching the townspeople with her ancient Mayan chocolate recipes. Normally I don't remember shit like that. Too frivolous to log away anywhere long term.

But for whatever reason, the damn thing stuck with me. Probably because I currently have a chocolate problem of my own. Not literally, of course. I don't do desserts. Empty calories aren't good for building and maintaining my physical capabilities. But that's beside the point.

There's this woman who's come along and set up shop right in the middle of my life. And to be honest, it wasn't a big deal at first. In fact, I was pretty sure she wasn't going to stick around. Didn't fit the bill of the typical townsperson, if you get my drift.

But like this chocolate woman from the movie, she's got a stubborn streak a mile long. Any time someone even _suggests_ she might do better somewhere else, she gets mad and digs her heels in deeper. So what did I do? I agreed to help her.

Except it was kind of a joke. At first. I thought if she saw how things _really_ were, she'd hightail it. Give up all those idealized chocolate-covered dreams and go back to something more realistic. Trade in that chocolate shop for something that sells better.

But the funny thing is, chocolate's kind of her thing. From an outsider's viewpoint, it seems weird and out of place. She always sticks out like a sore thumb. But if you take just a fraction of a moment to get to know her, it all starts making sense. Like there's no way she could be anyone _but_ the chocolate lady. Because it's a part of her. It's in her blood even.

And dammit, if it's not the _most_ intoxicating thing! You see, if she's the woman setting up the chocolate shop, I'm the town's mayor. In the movie, he's the one who's all about control, about keeping with tradition and following the rules. He stays distanced from everyone because he's on a secret quest for redemption. Funny how similar movie plots can be to real life sometimes…

But here's the real kicker. There's this scene in the movie where the mayor finally breaks down and loses it. He's been walking by that chocolate shop and smelling all those intoxicating aromas for weeks during his Lenten fast, and he finally decides he needs to do something about it. In his mind he's going to wreck the shop and rid the town of this bewitching woman once and for all. But when he actually gets there, he tastes just the smallest amount of her chocolaty confections and suddenly turns into this animalistic crazy person as he consumes any and all chocolate he can get his hands on.

I regret to say that I've had that breakdown moment too. I'd been spending too much time outside _her_ chocolate shop. All those sights and smells. They'd been wearing me down. And just like that foolish mayor, I didn't notice their full effect until it was too late. Until the morning I woke up in her bed.

Of course because it's Hollywood, the movie ends on a positive note, and the mayor makes his peace with the chocolate woman. He decides that maybe control isn't everything. Unfortunately, that's where our similarities end. I can't afford to let my guard down like that. Too much is still at risk.

So _my_ movie's stuck on pause at the moment when the mayor wakes up in the shop window, covered in all the evidence of his indiscretions. And the woman who owns this shop _might_ forgive me someday. She's always had a kind and forgiving heart.

But in the meantime, I can't seem to get the taste of her chocolate out of my mind. It not only satisfied something physical, it satisfied something emotional too. Something I'd closed off and locked away long ago. To be honest, something I never planned on revisiting again.

Guess I've got some serious decisions to make. Because I'm pretty sure the chocolate lady isn't going anywhere. Which might turn out to be a good thing. Someday. Because I'm starting to forget what life was like before she set up shop. And there's this funny truth about chocolate: once you've had it, it's nearly impossible to live without it.


End file.
